What a difference a year makes. After being drafted in the fourth round at 120th overall in 2023, Alex Ciernik was properly introduced to Flyers fans through Development Camp and Rookie Camp, and most notably, the Flyers’ Rookie Series in Allentown, where his speed and tenacity in his forechecking game made him a standout, despite coming in and playing along some of the big names of the organization’s older top prospects. He was a long shot to make the team out of camp, but as we he set to move up a level, graduate to the Allsvenskan in Sweden, he seemed primed to have a breakout year, and to capitalize on the momentum he was building.
But for Ciernik, it ended up being a difficult year. He sustained a concussion early in his season, and by his own admission may have come back a little too early in order to make a run at a spot on the Czech team for World Juniors. And he did make the team, but he also sustained a second concussion which really derailed his season, as he had to take his recovery much slower, to really get himself right.
“It wasn’t the easiest,” he told Flyers media at camp last week, “I didn’t play for half the year with the head injuries. It was a little bit lonely, a little tough at times, but I’m just happy to be back here, back with the guys, and be on the ice and work out and all that fun stuff.”
And while adversity this early in someone’s career is not something anyone would outright wish for, Ciernik has taken this as something of a learning opportunity, that he should “just try to not put myself in bad positions. I’m not a big guy and I have to be careful with that kind of stuff, and [also to] make sure to not be scared on the ice, but at the same time be smart about it.” The realities of being a professional player at Ciernik’s size are coming into focus, and while his speed can help him evade some sticky situations, learning about body positioning to protect himself has also been helpful.
For Ciernik, the good news is that he’s not just feeling healthy and back to normal, but he’s feeling better broadly — both as a player and in his position in the organization, in his place at camp: “I think I’m a little more comfortable here. I think I’ve had a good summer here and I’m trying to build off of that.”
And Ciernik seems well on his way to doing just that. He understands that last season ended up being something of a wash, as he only got in for 26 games across the whole of his season, but there are still opportunities aplenty to show himself, going forward:
“I didn’t get a chance to show myself a lot, I only played about, I don’t know, 20 games. And so yeah, a lot of people [may] count me out because I didn’t play a lot and head injuries, it’s a pretty serious thing, so for me I’m just trying to get back to how I felt before, and move from there.”
The first steps towards that seem well out of the way, as Ciernik is back and healthy, and showed well overall at camp. The pressure may be on for him to rebound well and recoup some of his stock as a prospect, in the eyes of the organization, but he seems to be handling that pressure well, taking it all in stride.
